Residence Inn, Torrance

When we first opened the door to our room #2923 we were overcome by this horrible odor – it smelled like a Las Vegas party had just rolled out of the room complete with all sorts of booze, cigarettes, and vomit. To make matters worse the property thought it would be nice to pump the room with something that smelled like one of those bathroom “deodorizers”. I hoped I could just vent it all away by opening the window and sliding glass door. The window opened only 6 inches for security purposes I suppose (there were all kinds of signs on the property disclaiming any responsibility for theft, loss of property in cars, etc). Neither the window nor the slider had any kind of screen on them and they were full of cobwebs. We really didn’t have time to move to another room so we tried to live with the stench that never went away. Ironically, the hotel welcome card tells you of a $250 room recovery fee for smoking in the room. Maybe that money was spent on the deodorizer? The view was overlooking a parking lot not affiliated with the hotel. I did see several dark cars where the owners of these vehicles were exchanging something I don’t want to know about. Someone had dropped a full pouch of french-fries in the middle of the sidewalk to our room – we had to step over this mess the entire time we were there. The hotel provides a “free” breakfast, which was difficult to enjoy to say the least. People just mobbed the buffet line pushing and shoving and staking claims to their tables. I began to wonder if many of these people were really guests of this hotel since anyone could easily help himself or herself to the food without showing a room key. I did notice on the exterior of several buildings the ravages of termites gone unchecked. Maybe it’s hard to tent a hotel with the guests still in it? We certainly won’t be back to this property and shame on Marriott for allowing this to happen to their hotel.